The Tokyo District Court has dismissed an appeal by Tepco shareholders calling for disclosure of a government panel’s records of questioning of executives over the March 2011 crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

“The decision accepted all of what the government claimed and therefore is regrettable,” the shareholders said in a statement following the ruling Tuesday. They said they would file an immediate appeal.

The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission was formed in 2011 to investigate the causes of the nuclear disaster by questioning executives of the utility, now called Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., including Tsunehisa Katsumata, former chairman of the utility, and others....

It is obvious to me that we have over invested in science and technology--but neither will save us from ourselves. Meanwhile the humanities have descended into nihilism. Unfortunately for atheists and scientific materialists their 'philosophy' will not support a decent society or life. It appeared to until those who took in a higher version of life had died out. Now we are coming face to face with a very dark edition of the past. It seems doubtful that we as a race will survive unless something like a miracle occurs that will pull us out of the abyss we have created. I see lots of suffering down the road.

A good and relevant question is: why don't people behave better? Why don't Tepco and the Japanese government tell the truth and then do something useful to help others? Christians would say it has to do with man's fallen nature; Buddhists would attribute it to suffering; Hindu's to karma and reincarnation; psychologists might fall back on early childhood development and trauma. Etc. If everyone involved believed in an after life of either paradise or an inferno that might help some. We could appeal to reason saying that in the long run the truth is liberating; and the guilt associated with this nuclear mess will weigh heavily and spoil their retirement citing examples from biographies and the like. The carrot and the stick. Presently neither the carrot nor the stick seem effective in many areas. Perhaps most humans are simply robotic and without anything deserving the title of free will. Like stones rolling down a hill side and damaging a building. We don't bother to lecture the stones on good behavior. It looks like the "refugees" in Europe are much like the errant stones, not learning from experience and lacking good sense. Perhaps Plato was correct and a Noble Lie is necessary to keep most people functioning in a constructive fashion. Unfortunately our clever post modern society is too shrewd to buy that one . . . it would be immediately de-constructed. On the other hand BLM is susceptible to being told that no lives matter. Actually post modern society seems to be operating along those lines with its chemical poisons,modified foods, vaccinations, bombs, drones, etc. The idea of world peace has become novel. Without a genuine transcendence it looks like humans are in the grip of nihilism and have nothing but meaningless lives before them. What is left are the appetites. Food, sex, shelter, entertainment, all of which cost money. More money then better versions of the same. Now the wheels begin to turn and nuclear power plants get built, bombs and drones are produced, driverless cars, etc. And a lot of people don't behave very well. Our intellects and instincts fail us as usual. Is that it? We had to be tricked into behaving well; and now that the trick has been revealed it no longer works?

However, failure to be vigilant and well informed does constitute a kind of serious negligence which too many in America are guilty of. I agree though that the bad actors have too much power and control. But it depends on the citizens' ignorance which is pretty well defended in my experience. At least I find a great unwillingness on peoples' part to take in anything not in the mainstream on TV. I get rebuffed usually by looks of shock or disbelief as though I were mentally unbalanced. Not very rewarding. Were I to quote John McAfee on the Russian hacking that would be okay I think. But Obama is still regarded as very special.

About Me

I am a Professor at a large public university. I study political economy and biopolitics (the politics of life). My interests are diverse but are broadly concerned with economic, social and environmental justice. I have published 5 books: Crisis Communication, Liberal Democracy and Ecological Sustainability: The Threat of Financial and Energy Complexes in the Twenty-First Century (2016); Fukusima and the Privatization of Risk (2013); Constructing Autism (2005); Governmentality, Biopower and Everyday Life (2008/2011); Governing Childhood (2010).
I also participated in an edited collection on Fukushima: Fukushima: Dispossession or Denuclearization (2014).